EP1727992A2

EP1727992A2 - Actuating mechanism for bowden cables

Info

Publication number: EP1727992A2
Application number: EP05707663A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Manuel Antonio De Castro Faria
Original assignee: Fico Cables Ltda
Current assignee: Fico Cables Ltda
Priority date: 2004-02-26
Filing date: 2005-02-28
Publication date: 2006-12-06
Also published as: WO2005083286A2; WO2005083286A3; CN1926346A; DE102004009332B4; DE102004009332A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an actuating mechanism (1) for manually actuating at least one Bowden cable (90). Said mechanism comprises a reel (40), which can be connected to an inner cable (92) of the Bowden cable (90) and a follower body (30) that can be connected to an actuating lever (100), the reel (40) and the follower body (30) being rotationally mounted about a common rotational axis and adopting the same axial position on the rotational axis.

Description

Operating mechanism for Bowden cables

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an actuation mechanism for actuating at least one Bowden cable. These actuating mechanisms are preferably used in motor vehicle construction and here, for example, for actuating a lumbar support in a motor vehicle seat.

2. State of the art

In automobile construction, but also in other branches of industry, movements are often transmitted using so-called Bowden cables. This is particularly the case when forces are introduced at a remote location and are required at another location. Examples of this are the remote control of exterior mirrors, the heating or coupling of the motor vehicle.

An actuation mechanism is required to apply a force to a Bowden cable. This can be an electrical actuation mechanism, in which the inner cables of a Bowden cable are tightened or relieved in relation to the sheaths of the Bowden cable by means of an electric motor via a suitable mechanism. There are also manual actuation mechanisms in which the operator operates a lever or turns a rotary knob so that the cables of the Bowden cable are tightened or relieved.

There are already various solutions for this in the prior art. For example, US Pat. No. 6,334,651 B1 discloses a manually actuable actuating mechanism which has a one-way clutch which locks in one direction. The actuation mechanism can be equipped with a lever or a rotary knob, and the one-way clutch ensures that the Tension is maintained on the Bowden cable cable when the lever or knob is released. The one-way clutch is realized by a roller clutch.

US Pat. No. 5,794,479 describes an actuating mechanism for the backrest of a vehicle seat which contains an elastic element which brings the lever back into a rest position after actuation. The actuating mechanism of this patent is further equipped with a clutch which engages when the hand lever is actuated and rotates the element which is connected to the cable of the Bowden cable. After actuation, the hand lever is returned to its rest position, the cable of the Bowden cable remains tightened.

An actuation mechanism for actuating a lumbar support in a vehicle seat is also known from US Pat. No. 5,518,294. The operating mechanism shown comprises a spool on which the inner cable of the Bowden cable can be wound. Furthermore, it comprises a fixed housing in which the coil is rotatably mounted and a second housing that can be rotated with a hand lever. Rotation of the hand lever causes the second housing to rotate, with one of two spring clutches being actuated depending on the direction of rotation, which transmit the rotation of the second housing to the spool. A third spring clutch, which is designed as a one-way clutch, prevents the spool from turning back. To turn the spool back, a force must be applied via the hand lever that is higher than the holding force of the one-way clutch.

Although various possibilities for such actuation mechanisms are already known, there is still a need for further improvements. It is therefore a problem of the present invention to provide an actuating mechanism which is simple in construction, has as few components as possible and is inexpensive to manufacture. Furthermore, this actuation mechanism should be as possible be universally applicable, ie it should be designed so that it is designed for left- and right-hand installation. It is also desirable that its assembly can be carried out as easily as possible on different vehicles and for different applications. It is also an object of this invention to provide an actuator that is as small and light as possible.

3. Summary of the invention

The above objectives and objects are achieved by an actuation mechanism according to claim 1. In particular, they are achieved by an actuation mechanism for the manual actuation of at least one Bowden cable, comprising a coil which can be connected to an inner cable of the Bowden cable, a driver body which can be connected to a Actuating lever can be connected, the spool and the driver body being rotatably mounted about a common axis of rotation and occupying the same axial position on the axis of rotation.

By separating the coil from the driver body, a suitable blocking mechanism can be activated so that the coil does not move unintentionally under load. The coil and driver body are in the axial direction at the same position on their common axis of rotation. Due to this special arrangement, the actuating mechanism is particularly short in the axial direction, so that it can be installed and used universally.

In a preferred embodiment, the coil comprises a coil body, which essentially has the shape of a circular ring section. The bobbin thus has a particularly simple shape, which allows a particularly small and advantageous design of the actuating mechanism.

The driver body preferably has a cylindrical lever receptacle on which the coil is rotatably mounted. The lever mount enables the structure of the actuation mechanism and fulfills several tasks at the same time. On the one hand, due to its cylindrical shape, it supports the driver body in a housing, on the other hand, it is used to hold a hand lever that can be inserted into the holder and, finally, it serves to rotatably support the coil.

The driver body preferably further comprises a driver area which essentially has the shape of a circular ring section. The driver area is preferably shaped to be complementary to the coil.

The lever receptacle of the driver body preferably has a through hole and at least one toothing for receiving the actuating lever from both sides of the through hole. The actuating lever can thus be inserted into the lever receptacle from both sides, so that the actuating mechanism can be mounted on the left as well as on the right.

The actuating mechanism preferably also has a torsion spring which is connected to the coil and is supported on an inner wall of a cylindrical housing in order to fix the angular position of the coil. The torsion spring prevents unwanted rotation of the coil under load, i.e. when pulling the inner cable of the Bowden cable.

The torsion spring can preferably be compressed by the driver body in order to change the angular position of the coil. If the driver body is rotated via the actuating lever, the torsion spring is compressed, whereby its blocking effect is released and the coil can be rotated.

The actuating mechanism preferably also has an inner housing to improve the friction between the housing and the torsion spring, the inner housing is arranged radially between the inner wall of the housing and the torsion spring.

The inner housing preferably consists of two housing halves in order to facilitate the assembly of the inner housing and to secure the inner housing in a rotationally fixed manner in the housing.

The actuating mechanism preferably also has a cover which can be connected to the housing by clips. This simplifies the assembly of the actuation mechanism.

The cover and the housing preferably each have axial through holes for receiving the actuating lever from both sides of the actuating mechanism. The actuation mechanism can thus be mounted on the left and right sides.

The actuating mechanism preferably furthermore has an adapter for mounting the actuating mechanism on a seat frame of a motor vehicle seat, the adapter being equipped with clips which can grip a mounting rib of the housing in any angular orientation. The actuating mechanism can be attached to components of any shape, preferably seat frames, by means of the adapter. Only the adapter has to be adapted to the corresponding component and not the entire actuation mechanism. Furthermore, the operating mechanism is designed by the mounting rib so that it can be mounted in different angular positions. The actuation mechanism can thus be used universally. 4. Brief description of the drawings

The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawing. It shows:

Figure 1 shows the individual components of a preferred embodiment of an actuating mechanism according to the invention in a three-dimensional exploded view;

FIG. 2 shows the internal components of the preferred embodiment of the actuation mechanism according to the invention in the actuated and unactuated state, shown in an axial top view, the housing components having been removed;

FIG. 3 shows the internal components of the preferred embodiment of the actuating mechanism according to the invention in the actuated and unactuated state in an axial top view, the cover being removed;

FIG. 4 shows a three-dimensional view of a preferred embodiment of an actuating mechanism according to the invention in the assembled state;

FIG. 5 shows a three-dimensional view of a preferred embodiment of an actuating mechanism according to the invention, with an actuating lever being attached;

FIG. 6 shows a three-dimensional view of a preferred embodiment of an actuating mechanism according to the invention, with an attached adapter;

FIG. 7 shows a three-dimensional view of two adapters for left-hand or right-hand mounting; FIG. 8 shows a three-dimensional view of two preferred embodiments of actuation mechanisms according to the invention together with an adapter for left-hand or right-hand installation with assembled Bowden cables;

FIG. 9 shows a three-dimensional detailed view of an actuation mechanism attached to a seat frame;

FIG. 10 shows a three-dimensional view of an actuating mechanism fastened on the inside of a seat frame;

FIG. 11 shows a three-dimensional view of an actuating mechanism attached to the outside of a seat frame;

FIG. 12 shows a three-dimensional view of a preferred housing from the inside; and

Figure 13 is a three-dimensional view of a preferred lid from the inside.

5. Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below and explained in detail with the aid of FIGS. 1 to 13.

The actuating mechanism 1 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 in the assembled state is preferably used to actuate a lumbar support (not shown) of a vehicle seat. The operating mechanism 1 is equipped with an operating lever 100 which is manually operated by the occupant of the vehicle to adjust the lumbar support. The actuating mechanism 1 serves to convert the rotary movements which are applied by the occupant into translatory movements which are passed on to the lumbar support via two Bowden cables 90. Of course, the actuation mechanism 1 can also be used to actuate other elements such as the heater, the headrest, the mirror or the like.

1 shows the individual components of an actuating mechanism 1. The actuating mechanism 1 comprises a housing 10, a torsion spring 20, two halves 51 and 52 of an inner housing 50, a driver body 30, a coil 40 and a cover 60. FIG. 1 also shows two Bowden cables 90, for example, which can be actuated with the actuating mechanism 1.

The inner cables 92 of the Bowden cables 90 can be connected to the coil 40. The Bowden cables 90 have connections 93 which can be introduced into corresponding receptacles 41 and 42 of the coil 40.

The coil 40 has a coil body 43 which essentially has the shape of a circular ring section. The coil 40 is rotatably mounted on the lever receptacle 31 of the driver body 30 and within a housing 10 about an axial axis of rotation.

The driver body 30 is mounted rotatably about the same axial axis of rotation in the housing 10 or in the cover 60. It consists of a substantially cylindrically shaped lever receptacle 31 and a driving area 36, which essentially has the shape of a circular ring section. The driving area 36 is shaped to be complementary to the coil 40, which can be accommodated in the recessed area of the circular ring section, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The coil 40 can move in the housing 10 by a certain angle relative to the driver body 30, which is crucial for the blocking mechanism described below. For this purpose, the coil former 43 has an inner bearing surface 46, which has the shape of a cylinder section. The inner bearing surface 46 is on an outer bearing surface 37 of the lever mounting. me 31 stored. The outer bearing surface 37 also has the shape of a cylinder section.

As shown in FIG. 2, the torsion spring 20 is connected to the coil 40 by means of a first actuation end 22. For this purpose, the actuating end 22 is introduced into a receptacle 44 of the coil 40. The torsion spring 20 is preloaded in such a way that it is supported on a cylindrical inner wall 15 of the housing 10 and thus prevents the coil 40 from rotating unintentionally under load. The holding force of the torsion spring 20 is increased when the Bowden cables 90 are loaded. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, a train on the inner cable 92 of the Bowden cable 90 is transmitted to the spool 40 and then to the first actuating end 22 of the torsion spring 20. This increases the diameter of the torsion spring 20 and it presses on the housing 10 with a greater force. This ensures that the coil 40 is securely fixed even under load.

If the Bowden cable 90 is now to be tightened or relieved, the driver body 30 must be rotated. For this purpose, it is equipped with a lever receptacle 31 which has a through opening 32. The lever receptacle 31 is further equipped with teeth 33 on both sides. A correspondingly shaped axis 101 of a lever 100 can be inserted into the lever receptacle 31, the axis 101 having a toothing 102 corresponding to the toothing 33 in order to transmit a torque to the driver body 30. The axle 101 can be inserted into the through hole 32 from both sides, so that the actuating mechanism 1 can be used flexibly.

If the driver body 30 is rotated as described above in order to attract the Bowden cable 90 (in FIGS. 2 and 3 in the counterclockwise direction), the first actuating surface 35 of the driver body 30 touches the actuating surface 47 of the coil 40. The coil 40 is moved in the counterclockwise direction and thereby the inner one Cable 92 of the Bowden cable 90 strained. At the same time, the torsion spring 20 is amount pressed so that it can rotate freely in the housing 10 and the coil 40 is movable.

After tightening, as shown on the right in FIG. 2, the inner cable 92 again exerts a pull on the coil 40 and the torsion spring 20 is pressed apart and blocked with the housing 10.

If the Bowden cable 90 is to be relaxed, as shown on the left in FIG. 2, the driver body 30 is rotated clockwise. The second actuating surface 34 of the driver body 30 touches the actuating end 21 of the torsion spring 20. The torsion spring 20 is compressed so that it can be freely rotated in the housing 10 and the coil 40 can be rotated clockwise.

The blocking effect of the torsion spring 20 in the housing 10 is based on the friction between the torsion spring 20 and the inner cylinder wall 15 of the housing 10. In order to improve or increase the friction, an inner housing 50 is introduced into the housing 10, which is made of a material with improved There are friction properties. The inner housing 50, like the torsion spring 20, is preferably made of steel, so that a particularly advantageous friction effect is achieved. Furthermore, an inner housing 50 made of steel prevents possible wear of the inner cylinder wall 15.

The inner housing 50 consists of a first housing half 51 and a second housing half 52 in order to more easily assemble and fasten the inner housing 50 in the housing 10. The inner housing halves 51, 52 are introduced into the housing 10 in such a way that they cover the inner cylinder wall 15. In order to prevent the inner housing halves 51 and 52 from rotating, they have radially projecting tabs 53 and 54 at their respective ends, which extend into radial grooves 18 in the housing 10, as shown in FIG. 3. As can be seen in FIG. 13, the cover 60 has four axially protruding clips 61 which snap into corresponding recesses 19 in the housing 10 for mounting the actuating mechanism 1. This enables simple and easy assembly. A fully assembled and universally usable actuating mechanism 1 is shown in FIG. 4.

For simple and quick assembly of the Bowden cables 90, the housing 10 is equipped with insertion slots 11 and a transverse hole 14. The cover 60 also has a transverse hole 66. The Bowden cables 90 are assembled by inserting the connections 93 of the Bowden cables 90 into the corresponding transverse holes 14, 66 and then into the receptacles 41 and 42 of the spool 40. For this purpose, the inner cables 92 of the Bowden cables 90 must be radial from the actuating mechanism 1 stick out. After insertion, the inner cables 92 can be pivoted in the tangential direction and the cable sleeves 91 can be inserted into the corresponding receptacles 12 of the housing 10.

A particular advantage of the present actuation mechanism 1 is the universal usability made possible by its small dimensions and the symmetrical design. As a result, for example, a seat manufacturer is not restricted by the actuating mechanism 1 in the design of the internal components of the seat. Another important aspect is improved accident safety. The actuating mechanism 1 can be installed in a protected or concealed manner, so that the risk of injury in the event of an accident is lower than in the case of larger actuating mechanisms.

In order to adapt an actuation mechanism 1 to a specific assembly situation, different adapters 70 are provided, which are adapted on a first side to the component to which the actuation mechanism 1 is to be attached and have a second side to which the actuation mechanism 1 is attached. Such adapters are shown in Figures 6 to 11. 6 shows an adapter 70 which has three clips 71 which snap into a radially projecting annular mounting rib 16 of the housing 10 in order to fasten the actuating mechanism 1 to the adapter 70. The angular position of the adapter 70 relative to the actuation mechanism 1 can be chosen almost as desired. The adapter 70 also has an outer surface 74, the shape of which is adapted to the corresponding component.

As can be seen in FIGS. 7, the adapter 70 in this preferred embodiment has a cylindrical pin 72 on the side facing the component and a fastening tab 73 with a bore. The adapter 70 can thus be attached to the component. 7 and 8 each show an adapter 70 for left-hand assembly and on the right-hand side for right-hand assembly. However, the exact shape of an adapter 70 can vary depending on the application.

FIG. 9 shows how an actuating mechanism 1 is attached to a left seat frame 110 of a motor vehicle seat by means of an adapter 70. This assembly situation is also shown in FIG. 10. Here, the actuating mechanism 1 is fastened on the inside of the seat frame 110. 11 shows a fastening of the actuating mechanism 1 on the outside of the seat frame 110. As already mentioned, the actuating mechanism 1 can be attached to the right inner or outer seat frame 111 as well (not shown).

To limit the actuation angle of the actuation mechanism 1, stops 17 and 63 are provided on the axial end faces of the housing 10 and the cover 60, which limit the adjustment movement of the driver body 30 and the coil 40. If the adjustment movement is not to be limited, the stops 17 and 63 can be omitted. The housing 10, the coil 40 and the cover 60 are preferably injection molded from PA66 + 30GF, a polyamide with 30% glass fiber. The driver body 30 is preferably made of POM (polyoxymethylene). Depending on the application, the materials and compositions used can vary.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 operating mechanism

10 housing

11 insertion slots

12 Holder for Bowden cable cover

13 axial through hole

14 transverse hole

15 inner cylinder wall

16 mounting ribs

17 characters

18 groove

19 shots for clips

20 torsion spring

21 first actuation end

22 second actuation end

30 driver body

31 lever mounting

32 through hole

33 gearing

34 second operating surface

35 first operating surface

36 Take-away area

37 outer bearing surface

40 spool

41 first shot second shot

bobbins

Inclusion of inner storage area

Actuating area inner housing first housing half second housing half

tabs

cover

clips

attacks

Through Hole

transverse hole

adapter

clips

pen

flap

outer surface

cables

Bowden cable sleeves inner cable

connection

actuating lever

axis

Teeth left seat frame right seat frame

Claims

claims

An actuating mechanism (1) for manually actuating at least one Bowden cable (90), comprising: a) a coil (40) which can be connected to an inner cable (92) of the Bowden cable (90); b) a driver body (30) which can be connected to an actuating lever (100); wherein c) the coil (40) and the driver body (30) are rotatably mounted about a common axis of rotation and assume the same axial position on the axis of rotation.

2. Actuating mechanism according to spoke 1, wherein the coil (40) comprises a coil body (43) which has essentially the shape of a circular ring section.

3. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the driver body (30) has a cylindrical lever receptacle (31) on which the coil (40) is rotatably mounted.

4. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-3, wherein the driver body (30) further comprises a driver area (36) which essentially has the shape of a circular ring section.

5. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-4, wherein the lever mounting (31) of the driver body (30) has a through hole (32) and has at least one toothing (33) for receiving the actuating lever (100) from both sides of the through hole (32).

6. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-5, further comprising a torsion spring (20) which is connected to the coil (40) and is supported on an inner wall (15) of a cylindrical housing (10) to the angular position of the Set the coil (40).

7. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-6, wherein the torsion spring (20) can be compressed by the driver body (30) in order to change the angular position of the coil (40).

8. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-7, further comprising an inner housing (50) to improve the friction between the housing (10) and torsion spring (20), wherein the inner housing (50) radially between the inner wall (15) of the housing (10) and the torsion spring (20) is arranged.

9. actuation mechanism according to one of claims 1-8, wherein the inner housing (50) consists of two housing halves (51, 52).

10. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-9, further comprising a cover (60) which can be connected to the housing (10) by clips (61).

11. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-10, wherein the cover (60) and the housing (10) each have axial through holes (13, 65) for receiving the actuating lever (100) from both sides of the actuating mechanism (1).

12. Actuating mechanism according to one of claims 1-11, further comprising an adapter (70) for mounting the actuating mechanism (1) a seat frame (110) of a motor vehicle seat, the adapter (70) being equipped with clips (71) which can grip a mounting rib (16) of the housing (10) in any angular orientation.